Steering rack mounting bracket repair

Hello there, New user, my girlfriend is the Mk1 owner but allergic to spanners.

Anyway the other week I was investigating the strange steering problem, if you hit a bump or dip when you had weight on the steering, the wheel would jump round, then stay left hand down, or right. Pulled up at a curb to hold the wheels straight, wiggeled the wheel and noticed the loose bracket then DISASTER, it came completely away from the bulkhead.

Being the SE rep for the Vectra Owners Club I went straight for the owners clubs on the internet, and found you guys on every google search! I must say A great help but a distinct lack of photos of the problem bracket, So while I had it up on ramps down at Hold Tight in Dartford I took some photos (iPhone and a torch style  8) ) for anyone else in my position searching Google.

The problem was caused by the lower bracket stress cracking along the bend on the bottom, so only a small piece was left on the bodywork, as all the spot welds up both side came loose all that was left was the large spot weld on the top half, (which I snapped   ) All I had to do was remove the ARB and drop the downpipe a bit.

Sterss cracked on the inside edge here, could only get a tack in!


Top half, you can see the hole cause by the large spot weld ripping the bulkhead off

ive had this bracket break off before and welded them back on,its something i look for when doing a mk1 mot  :wink:
Bert